In order to decorate a complicated three-dimensional surface of an article having such a surface, a water pressure transfer film having a print pattern of non-water-solubility on a water-soluble film is floated on a water in a transfer tub, after making wet the water-soluble film of the transfer film, an article (an object to be pattern-transferred) is immersed into the water in the transfer tub while contacting the transfer film and the print pattern of the transfer film is transferred on a surface of the article using the water pressure generated when the article is immersed into water to form a decoration layer.
In general, since the water pressure transfer film has the print pattern printed and dried on the water-soluble film and is stored while wound in a form of roll form, the ink of the print pattern is in a dry state where adhesion is lost. Thus, the print pattern of the water pressure transfer film is required to restore the same state as the wet state just after the print pattern (the state having the adhesion) is printed. The applicant have proposed an activating agent composed of non-solvent type ultraviolet ray hardening resin composite in place of a conventionally use solvent-type activating agent composed of thinner or the like and a water pressure transfer method using such a non-solvent type activating agent has been carried out on a large scale now.
With such an activating agent of non-solvent type ultraviolet ray hardening resin composite used, this ultraviolet ray hardening resin composite permeates the print pattern to thereby restore the wet state of the print pattern and in addition thereto the ultraviolet ray hardening resin composite permeating the print pattern intermingled in the ink is hardened within the print pattern by the ultraviolet ray irradiation carried out after the water pressure transfer of the print pattern. This is the same state as the one in which the ultraviolet ray hardening characteristic is imparted to the print pattern itself, whereby the mechanical and chemical surface protection characteristics such as abrasion resistance, solvent resistance, chemical resistance, weather resistance, etc. are imparted to the decoration layer formed by the print e pattern on the article. This causes a surface protection topcoat to be not required and prevents the decoration layer from being removed out of the surface of the article because the ultraviolet ray hardening resin composite intermingled within the decoration layer is adhered to the surface of the article with high strength whereby an extremely preferable water pressure transfer can be performed (see the Patent Document 1).
The applicant has also developed an art in which a cubic feeling is imparted to the decoration layer by changing a glossiness of the adjacent printed portions of the decoration layer in such a water pressure transfer method (see Patent Document 2).
This art adjusts the glossiness of the decoration layer according to the oil absorption of the ink pigments of the print pattern or the concentration of the ink and imparts the gloss changing characteristics where a high gloss pattern part and a low gloss pattern part are adjacent to each other by using this principle as disclosed by Patent Document 2. In this art, the quantity of the ultraviolet ray hardening resin composite permeating the ink changes according to the oil absorption (the amount of absorption of ultraviolet ray hardening resin) of the ink or the concentration of the ink whereby the degree of hardening shrinkage of the resin in the ink changes when hardened by ultraviolet ray to thereby change a fine concavo-convex state of the resin to form a gloss variation.
However, since this art adjusts the amount of contraction by the ultraviolet ray hardening of the resin in the ink according to the oil absorption of the ink pigments or the concentration of the ink and therefore adjusts the glossiness thereof, it may be suitably applicable to the decoration layer of comparatively deep and dark color having mainly black or brown used in the pattern such as usual wood-grain pattern, but may not be applicable to the decoration layer of comparatively thin and bright color having yellow or red mainly used in the pattern such as light wood-grain pattern used often recently or including red, blue, yellow and white used in other patterns, which means the decoration layer of color ink other than black ink because the decoration layer of such light color has the matting degree smaller than that of black ink and therefore the scope of gloss adjustment is narrowed, which makes the adjustment of gloss difficult. Therefore, if this conventional art would be applied to the decoration layer of thin and bright color, it will not be able to make gloss adjustment (matting adjustment) having the level equivalent to that of the decoration layer of comparatively deep and dark color having black or brown mainly used.